/tmp (small temporary files)
The /tmp directory is for small, size-bounded temporary files. As
in AL2023, it is a tmpfs file system by default, with a size limit of 50% of
RAM and a maximum of one million inodes. For larger temporary files, use
/var/tmp
instead.
Applications should prefer the path in the $TMPDIR environment variable
over a hardcoded /tmp, so users can override the location.
The content of /tmp is cleaned at boot, and unused files are
removed by a cleanup job that runs shortly after boot and then daily. To configure the
cleanup, see the tmpfiles.d(5) and systemd-tmpfiles(8)
man pages.
Warning
Because /tmp is shared, use safe methods to create temporary
files. For details, see the upstream systemd documentation on Using /tmp and
/var/tmp safely
Note
We recommend setting the PrivateTmp= directive to yes
or disconnected for systemd services, which gives the service
private /tmp and /var/tmp directories that are
not shared with the host or other services. See the systemd.exec(5)
man page.
Note
In a container, the container runtime configuration dictates whether
/tmp is tmpfs or a path on disk, and whether any cleanup
process runs.
